Eugene Nyaundi Mangerere + New Kitchen Culture

Written by Julie Kauffman Strong, Development Coordinator / Cooks Who Care

We’re working together to make building a New Kitchen Culture a worldwide food industry priority! Eugene Nyaundi Mangerere is a chef, spirits consultant, and farmer from Nairobi, Kenya. He’s known as the Rhum Bishop, because of his work building a craft rum movement in Africa. He is also a champion for mental health in our industry. His Bishop Botany Farm, a sustainable, organic farm near Nairobi, is designed to teach people about the connection between the food we eat and the land it comes from, and how nurturing those relationships benefits both our mental and physical health. He believes that by becoming better stewards of the environment, we become better stewards of ourselves. This interconnectedness infuses his work as a chef, as a bartender, as a farmer and as a leader in the mental wellness movement.

Mentorship & team building are at the core of Eugene’s work to create a New Kitchen Culture among his peers in Kenya. He sees these two factors as key components to addressing many of the issues prevalent in kitchens - from creating a safe workplace to attracting employees to creating an environment that values work/life harmony. This harmony is essential to prioritizing his team’s mental health, since an imbalance can lead to burnout. One of the unique ways that Eugene builds work/life harmony is through workshops on financial services & investment opportunities - because so often (especially in the Food & Beverage Industry) financial stability is a driving factor in one’s mental health and in the type of care one receives when needed. He shared with us that organizations he has worked for have supported mental health care as part of the benefits they offer and that he has responded to situations by bringing in outside mental health assistance.??

You can learn more about Eugene Nyaundi Mangerere & his work to change the culture from the farm to the table by following Bishop Botany Farm on Instagram @bishopbotanyfarm or by checking out his appearances on Have You Eaten Yet Podcast & The Speakeasy Podcast. His work has also been featured on Healthy Hospo.?

Do you have a story to share? Are you working to change the Food Industry by creating healthy, safe, inclusive workplaces? If you are motivated to create a New Kitchen Culture in your establishment, we want to connect. Head to our new website www.cookswhocare.org to learn more.

3 Ways to Connect With Cooks Who Care :

1) Want to share your story of changing kitchen culture in your establishment? Take this short survey (10-15 min. max) and tell us what you do differently than the rest or what you’re working on: https://bit.ly/Submit_Your_NewKitchenCulture?

2) Learn more about our New Kitchen Culture Campaign: https://bit.ly/CWC_NewKitchenCulture_PDF

3) 30 Stay in the loop with Cooks Who Care by subscribing to our Newsletter: https://bit.ly/CooksWhoCare_Newsletter